User:Fantinij/sandbox

Finished!

I have just made my additions to the History section and have now made all the edits I intend to make to the article.

'German language' Article Evaluation

Classification section is not written very clearly, heavy use of information in parentheses is awkward to read. The section is also almost completely uncited.

I agree, very difficult to follow along. Also, reading through it, I was confused as to the difference between German and Standard German, perhaps you could clarify this in your edits. Note: I am typing these comments as I read through your sandbox, so forgive me if I mention something here that you've already made edits on below.

History section needs work, seems to be a content gap that could use development. Sentence about Catholic 'gemeines Deutsch' should be cited and may just be inappropriate in general. All of the citations in the 'Germany' section are from old works (Brothers Grimm and other 19th C. philologists) - this could certainly be improved. Some of this section should be rewritten as well.

Hmmm, yes, the text seems to skip from very early German all the way to Luther's time in the 16th century. There should be a sentence or two to add in between, if you can find information regarding it. Also (and this may be something that cannot be worked around), I felt that this section was rather difficult to read because it seems to require almost too much background knowledge for the reader to already know. While links to other wikipedia articles are good, the Origins paragraph seems to be entirely full of them. It would be useful for you to provide a description (even a brief one) for some of them.

'Austrian Empire' section could use citation.

'Standardization' section is awkwardly written and could use better citation.

First half of the 'Geographic Population' section is excellent; about half way through the 'North America' section, however, several paragraphs lack any citation at all.

'Dialects' section is almost entirely uncited.

'Grammar,' 'Orthography,' and 'Phonology' sections also largely uncited, but much of the information in the 'Grammar' and 'Phonology' section at least doesn't seem like it needs to be cited. Aside from this, the grammatical overview that the article gives is fairly extensive and well fleshed-out.

The tone throughout is mostly encyclopedic. The 'Geographic Population' section starts to sound like a promotional pamphlet at times, but stays true enough to the facts and doesn't embellish too much. The sources, where there are sources, are good: mostly scholarly articles and books by reputable publishers. As mentioned above, some of the citations in the earlier sections refer to 19th century works, which, although landmarks, are somewhat dated. The problem here is not so much the quality of sources as the number.

I am thinking that my contributions will probably be mostly to the 'History' and 'Dialects' sections, as these both need work and will require less expertise to contribute to than would the 'Phonology' and 'Grammar' sections. Further, the sections on German syntax, morphology, and phonology are fairly extensive/comprehensive, and I don't feel that these sections of the article need rewriting as much as some others do. My plans are to see what I can learn about the history and dialects of German, probably do some rewriting of these sections, and try to find some sources to support some of the uncited claims already made in the article.

I am realizing more and more how dinky the history section of this article is. Whereas my edits on the classification section consisted mostly of rewriting with some addition of new content, I would like to try and beef up the content of the history section.

Edits/Additions for Article

Classification

Modern Standard German is a West Germanic language descended from the Germanic branch of the Indo-European languages. The Germanic languages are traditionally subdivided into three branches: North Germanic, East Germanic, and West Germanic. The first of these branches survives in modern Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Faroese, and Icelandic, all of which are descended from Old Norse. The East Germanic languages are now extinct, and the only historical member of this branch from which written texts survive is Gothic. The West Germanic languages, however, have undergone extensive dialectal subdivision and are now represented in modern languages such as English, German, Dutch, Yiddish, Afrikaans, and others.

Within the West Germanic language dialect continuum, the Benrath and Uerdingen lines (running through Düsseldorf-Benrath and Krefeld-Uerdingen, respectively) serve to distinguish the Germanic dialects that were affected by the High German consonant shift (south of Benrath) from those that were not (north of Uerdingen). The various regional dialects spoken south of these lines are grouped as High German dialects (nr. 29-34 on map), while those spoken to the north comprise the Low German/Low Saxon (nr. 19-24) and Low Franconian (nr. 25) dialects. As members of the West Germanic language family, High German, Low German, and Low Franconian can be further distinguished historically as Irminonic, Ingvaeonic, and Istvaeonic, respectively. This classification indicates their historical descent from dialects spoken by the Irminones (also known as the Elbe group), Ingvaeones (or North Sea Germanic group), and Istvaeones (or Weser-Rhine group). Standard German is based on Thuringian-Upper Saxon dialects (nr. 30 on the map), which are Central German dialects (nr. 29-31), belonging to the Irminonic High German dialect group. German is therefore most closely related to the other languages based on High German dialects, such as Luxembourgish (based on Central Franconian dialects - nr. 29), and Yiddish. Also closely related to Standard German are the Upper German dialects spoken in the southern German-speaking countries, such as Swiss German (Alemannic dialects - nr. 34), and the various dialects spoken in Grand Est, such as Alsatian (mainly Alemannic, but also Central- and Upper Franconian (nr. 32) dialects) and Lorraine Franconian (Central Franconian - nr. 29).

After these High German dialects, standard German is (somewhat less closely) related to languages based on Low Franconian dialects (e.g. Dutch and Afrikaans) or Low German/Low Saxon dialects (spoken in northern Germany and southern Denmark), neither of which underwent the High German consonant shift. As has been noted, the former of these dialect types is Istvaeonic and the latter Ingvaeonic, whereas the High German dialects are all Irminonic; the differences between these languages and standard German are therefore considerable. Also related to German are the Frisian languages—North Frisian (spoken in Schleswig-Holstein nr. 28), Saterland Frisian (spoken in Lower Saxony - nr. 27), and West Frisian (spoken in the Netherlands - nr. 26)—as well as the Anglic languages of English and Scots. These Anglo-Frisian dialects are all members of the Ingvaeonic family of West Germanic languages which did not take part in the High German consonant shift.

Very good introductory paragraph to this section, it's exactly what the real article needs. You clearly distinguish the three main branches of Germanic languages at the start, which better prepares the reader for the bulk of info underneath. The main article's structure seems much more intuitive, seeming to start with each of the dialects and then connect them back to the branches. Good work.

(perhaps clarify what these are)

Much better than the original. In addition to adding more information, you have gotten rid of most of the unnecessary parenthetical. However, if I had to criticize one thing, it would still be the readability. As I mentioned before, one fault I found in the main article is that readers need to know quite a bit of background information in order to thoroughly understand this section. Compared to the history sections of other languages, there are a lot of wikipedia links in this one. While I understand the reasoning that they should not be explored in an article discussing German language specifically, it would help to explain them so that readers would not need to click on all the links to understand the article. Again, I am using the POV of a standard Wikipedia reading looking for introductory research.

Overall, a very good start. You've clearly picked a section that needs a lot of work, and from what I've seen, I'm confident you will do a good job. Good luck.

History

Main Article: History of German

Old High German

Main article: Old High German

The history of the German language begins with the High German consonant shift during the migration period, which separated Old High German (OHG) dialects from Old Saxon. This sound shift involved a drastic change in the pronunciation of both voiced and voiceless stop consonants (b, d, g, and p, t, k, respectively). The primary effects of the shift were the following: (1) Voiceless stops became long (geminated) voiceless fricatives following a vowel (2) Voiceless stops became affricates in word-initial position, or following certain consonants (3) Voiced stops became voiceless in certain phonetic settings.

Voicless Stop Following a Vowel	Word-Initial Voiceless Stop	Voiced Stop
/p/→/ff/	/p/→/pf/	/b/→/p/
/t/→/ss/	/t/→/ts/	/d/→/t/
/k/→/xx/	/k/→/kx/	/g/→/k/

While there is written evidence of the Old High German language in several Elder Futhark inscriptions from as early as the 6th century AD (such as the Pforzen buckle), the Old High German period is generally seen as beginning with the Abrogans (written c.765-775), a Latin-German glossary supplying over 3,000 OHG words with their Latin equivalents. Following the Abrogans the first coherent works written in OHG appear in the 9th, chief among them being the Muspilli, the Merseberg Incantations, and the Hildebrandslied, as well as a number of other religious texts (the Georgslied, the Ludwigslied, the Evangelienbuch, and translated hymns and prayers). The Muspilli is a Christian poem written in a Bavarian dialect offering an account of the soul after the Last Judgment, and the Merseberg Incantations are transcriptions of spells and charms from the pagan Germanic tradition. Of particular interest to scholars, however, has been the Hildebrandslied, a secular epic poem telling the tale of an estranged father and son unknowingly meeting each other in battle. Linguistically this text is highly interesting due to the mixed use of Old Saxon and Old High German dialects in its composition. The written works of this period stem mainly from the Alamanni, Bavarian, and Thuringian groups, all belonging to the Elbe Germanic group (Irminones), which had settled in what is now southern-central Germany and Austria between the 2nd and 6th centuries during the great migration.

In general, the surviving texts of OHG show a wide range of dialectal diversity with very little written uniformity. The early written tradition of OHG survived mostly through monasteries and scriptoria as local translations of Latin originals; as a result, the surviving texts are written in highly disparate regional dialects and exhibit significant Latin influence, particularly in vocabulary. At this point monasteries, where most written works were produced, were dominated by Latin, and German saw only occasional use in official and ecclesiastical writing.

The German language through the OHG period was still predominantly a spoken language with a wide range of dialects and a much more extensive oral than written tradition. Having just emerged from the High German consonant shift, OHG was also a relatively new and volatile language still undergoing a number of phonetic, phonological, morphological, and syntactic changes. The scarcity of written work, instability of the language, and widespread illiteracy of the time thus account for the fact that German shows very little standardization through the end of the OHG period in 1050.

Middle High German

Main Article: Middle High German

While there is no complete agreement over the dates of the Middle High German (MHG) period, it is generally seen as lasting from 1050 to 1350. This period is characterized primarily by a significant expansion of the geographical territory occupied by Germanic tribes, and consequently of the number of German speakers. Whereas during the Old High German period the Germanic tribes extended only as far east as the Elbe and Saale rivers, the MHG period saw a number of these tribes expanding beyond this eastern boundary into Slavic territory (this is known as the Ostsiedlung). Along with the increasing wealth and geographic influence of the Germanic groups came greater use of German in the courts of nobles as the standard language of official proceedings and literature. A clear example of this is the mittelhochdeutsche Dichtersprache employed in the Hohenstaufen court in Swabia as a standardized supra-dialectal written language. While these efforts were still regionally bound, German began to be used in place of Latin for certain official purposes leading to a greater need for regularity in written conventions.

While the major changes of the MHG period were socio-cultural, German was still undergoing significant linguistic changes in syntax, phonetics, and morphology as well (e.g. diphthongization of certain vowel sounds: hus (OHG "house")→haus (MHG), and weakening of unstressed short vowels to schwa [ə]: taga (OHG "day")→tage (MHG)).

A great wealth of texts survive from the MHG period. Significantly, among this repertoire are a number of impressive secular works, such as the Nibelungenlied, an epic poem telling the story of the dragon-slayer Siegfried (c.13th century), and the Iwein, an Arthurian verse poem by Hartmann von Aue (c.1203), as well as several lyric poems and courtly romances such as Parzival and Tristan (also noteworthy is the Sachsenspiegel, the first book of laws written in Middle Low German (c.1220)). The abundance and (secular) character of the literature of the MHG period demonstrate the beginnings of a standardized written form of German, as well as the desire of poets and authors to be understood by individuals on supra-dialectal terms.

The Middle High German period is generally seen as ending with the decimation of the population of Europe in the Black Death of 1346-1353.

Early New High German

Main Article: Early New High German

Modern German begins with the Early New High German (ENHG) period, which the influential German philologist Wilhelm Scherer dates 1350-1650, terminating with the end of the Thirty Years' War. This period saw the further displacement of Latin by German as the primary language of courtly proceedings and, increasingly, of literature in the German states. While these states were still under the control of the Holy Roman Empire and far from any form of unification, the desire for a cohesive written language that would be understandable across the many German-speaking principalities and kingdoms was stronger than ever. As a spoken language German remained highly fractured through this period with a vast number of often mutually-incomprehensible regional dialects being spoken throughout the German states; the invention of the printing press c.1440 and the publication of Luther's vernacular translation of the Bible in 1534, however, had an immense effect on standardizing German as a supra-dialectal written language.

The ENHG period saw the rise of several important cross-regional forms of chancery German, one being gemeine tiutsch, used in the court of the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I, and the other being Meißner Deutsch, used in the Electorate of Saxony in the Duchy of Saxe-Wittenberg. Alongside these courtly written standards, the invention of the printing press led to the development of a number of printers' languages (Druckersprachen) aimed at making printed material readable and understandable across as many diverse dialects of German as possible. The greater ease of production and increased availability of written texts brought about increased standardization in the written form of the German language.

One of the central events in the development of ENHG was the publication of Luther's translation of the Bible into German (the New Testament in 1522 and the Old Testament, published in parts and completed in 1534). Luther based his translation primarily on the Meißner Deutsch of Saxony, spending much time among the population of Saxony researching the dialect so as to make the work as natural and accessible to German speakers as possible. Copies of Luther's Bible featured a long list of glosses for each region that translated words which were unknown in the region into the regional dialect. Concerning his translation method Luther says the following:

One who would talk German does not ask the Latin how he shall do it; he must ask the mother in the home, the children on the streets, the common man in the market-place and note carefully how they talk, then translate accordingly. They will then understand what is said to them because it is German. When Christ says 'ex abundantia cordis os loquitur,' I would translate, if I followed the papists, aus dem Überflusz des Herzens redet der Mund. But tell me is this talking German? What German understands such stuff? No, the mother in the home and the plain man would say, Wesz das Herz voll ist, des gehet der Mund über.

With Luther's rendering of the Bible in the vernacular German asserted itself against the dominance of Latin as a legitimate language for courtly, literary, and now ecclesiastical subject-matter. Further, his Bible was ubiquitous in the German states with nearly every household possessing a copy. Nevertheless, even with the influence of Luther's Bible as an unofficial written standard, it was not until the middle of the 18th century after the ENHG period that a widely accepted standard for written German appeared.

Notes Section

Old High German Notes:

Elbe Germanic and Weser-Rhine Germanic during the migration period settled in what is now southern-central Germany, many of these dialects underwent the Consonant Shift and began High German - German was spoken only to the west of the Elbe and Saale and these tribes did not settle beyond there.

700/750-1050, arises after the High German Consonant Shift which probably began between the 3rd and 5th centuries - differentiated Old High German dialects from Old Saxon.

Brief overview of the High German Consonant shift. Also a number of other sound shifts occurring.

In addition to present and preterite, development of three periphrastic tenses: future, perfect, pluperfect. Explanation of what a periphrastic tense is - adding an auxiliary to an infinitive/participle, generally haben or werden.

Culture is still Latin-dominated, German preserved by select translations of Latin works in scriptoria and monasteries and demonstrate significant Latin influence, borrowing Latin words, most texts are religious in nature.

Still a wide variety of dialects with clear dominant dialect, texts written in all different dialects.

Texts: Elder Futhark's fragments (6th C.), Abrogans - German latin glossary (8th C.), Hildesbrandslied, Muspilli, Merseburg Incantations (9th C.), Tatian OHG version (mid 9th C.)

Middle High German Notes:

Scherer dates it 1050-1350.

Expansion of German tribes and language east of the Elbe-Saale line into Slav territory as a result of population growth - Ostseidlung.

Increase in German royalty and noble families leads to more use of German as a standard languages as opposed to a mere literary oddity maintained by monks in scriptoria.

Mittelhochdeutsch Dichtersprache - A courtly standardized German established in the Hochenstaufen court in Swabia - beginnings of standardization beyond regional variations and use of German for official purposes both spoken and written.

Still undergoing sound changes. Changes in diphthongization and shift of unstressed [e] to schwa, establishment of full umlaut system.

Greater use of German for secular purposes - lyric poetry. Texts: Nibelungenlied (1204), Sachsenspiegel in law, Iwein (1200), etc.

Period ended with the decimation of the population in the Black Death of 1348.

Early New High German Notes:

Scherer dates it 1350-1650 - begins with the Black Death and ends with the Thirty Years' War (1648).

German becoming increasingly dominant as the language both of the public common discourse and of courtly official proceedings - Latin being pushed out.

Increasing uniformity in written German, although still nothing officially codified as Standard German.

Written German forced into increasing standardization as a result of the invention of the printing press in the mid 15th C. Increasing homogenization of written dialects so as to be universally understandable by all German-speaking areas - Druckersprachen - printers' languages.

Development of main supra-regional Schriftsprache:

• "The gemaine tiutsch ("common German") of the Chancery of the Emperor Maximilian I and his successors in Prague and then Vienna.
• The East Central German of the Chancery of the Electorate of Saxony in Meissen" - (taken from Early New High German article)

The latter of which Martin Luther chose to write his Bible (published 1534).

While the language continued to undergo certain sound changes, particularly in the vowels (diphthongization), it was beginning to come to some sort of uniformity, and the major changes of this period involved socio-political expansion of use, influence, and uniformity, as opposed to technical linguistic development.

Reformation - Martin Luther - and printing press lead to important changes in the German language.

Initial Bibliography

Clyne, M.G. The German Language in a Changing Europe. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995.

Robinson, O.W. Old English and its Closest Relatives. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1992.

Super, C.W. A History of the German Language. Columbus, OH: Hann & Adair, 1893.